President Barack Obama's marriage rights annoucment is having a ripple effect with black politicians and organizations. The oldest civil rights oganization in the US, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said today (19 May) that its board of directors voted to support marriage equality.

Around 250 people attended a marriage equality vigil in Tasmania, Australia, last night (17 May).

The protest was held outside a national anti-marriage equality rally, which was addressed by homophobic evangelical pastor and former tennis star Margaret Court.

The debate around same-sex marriage in Australia got personal on Monday night during a broadcast of a live TV show where politicians are asked questions by a studio audience.

The panel of the ABC TV show Q&A (similar to the BBC’s Questiontime) included Liberal MP for Sydney North Joe Hockey, who is opposed to gay marriage and Labor senator Penny Wong, who has a daughter with her partner Sophie Allouache.

The first man to ever marry his gay partner on Italian soil is now thinking about marrying someone else.

Alessio De Giorgi, editor in chief of LGBT website Gay.it, told Gay Star News: ‘I’d like to marry my partner Lorenzo. It’s a possibility, we are thinking about it.’

De Giorgi separated from his previous partner, Christian Panicucci, in 2007.

The American public may be divided in their support of President Obama’s position on same-sex marriage, but now the US President has the backing of American rapper, Jay-Z.

Speaking in an interview on CNN, Jay-Z has revealed that he is in support of banning US laws against same-sex marriage, commenting that it is no different to discriminating against black people.

Real same-sex couples and families have been having their say on why gay marriage is important - and we think their videos are a must-see.

While religious extremists have been spouting hate against same-sex marriage equality, it's often the real-life stories of love, committment and family which get lost.

The Out4Marriage video campaign is turning into an amazing opportunity to change all that and hundreds of people have already posted their messages onto YouTube, explaining why they want the law changed - from politicians and celebrities to the public.

Britain’s leading gay media have appealed for their readers to take part in the government’s consultation on same-sex marriage before it’s too late.

It is just a month to go before the consultation on how to introduce same-sex marriage equality ends.

Most people in Britain support the change but the so far it seems the biggest response has come from religious opponents to equality.

The joint statement reads:

For the first time, a majority of Americans participating in a Gallup Poll believe that same-sex marriage should be legal and with the same rights as heterosexual marriages.

Results of Gallup's annual 'Values and Beliefs' poll were released Monday (14 May)  but the survey was conducted May 5-8, before President Barack Obama's historic endorsement of gay marriage.

It showed that 53 percent of those surveyed are now in favor of marriage equality - a nine point increase from a year earlier.

Pier Luigi Bersani, leader of the Italian PD (Democrat Party) has called for more rights for LGBT people in an interview by the national newspaper l’Unità.

Bersani said: ‘If we’ll ever win the elections and form a cabinet, we’ll have to do something to recognize same-sex unions. But don’t call it “marriage”, because our constitution does not allow it.’

Polls show PD is currently Italy’s most popular party. Bersani’s move came in response to Barack Obama’s stance on gay marriage.

Veteran gay activist Peter Tatchell has accussed religious leaders of misleading the British public by saying that the introduction of gay marriage in the UK would force faith groups to wed same-sex partners.

Tatchell is national coordinator of the Equal Love Campaign which wants to legalize same-sex marriage and offer civil partnerships (the current UK equivalent of marriage on offer to lesbian and gay couples) to straight people too.

One of Australia's leading psychiatrists, Professor Kuravilla George, who is the State Government's equal opportunities champion and deputy chief psychiatrist in Victora, has joined forces with 150 doctors lobbying the Federal Government to ban same-sex marriage.

The group of doctors, who wrote in a letter to the Senate's inquiry into marriage equality, say that it was "important for the future health of our nation" to retain the definition of marriage as being between a man and woman.

The gay partner of a dead Catholic priest has been told he is allowed to have his lover's pension - despite the cleric's vow of chastity.

The Constitutional Court of Colombia found in favor of the partner, who lived with the priest for 28 years before his death in 2009, in  landmark ruling, unprecedented in the history of Colombia and possibly Latin America.